The invention relates to a tape cassette loading device for a cassette tape recorder.
A slide-in mechanism of the Staar type is known as a device which loads a tape cassette into a cassette tape recorder. In this instance, a tape cassette is slid into the recorder from an opening formed in the front surface thereof. A pilot pin is then urged by the cassette inserted to operate a linkage, which causes a movable carriage carrying drive elements, such as a capstan or reel shafts, to be lifted into engagement with a capstan receiving aperture and tape hubs, respectively, formed in the cassette. However, the described arrangement is susceptible to oscillations since the capstan, reel shafts and their associated drive mechanisms are mounted on the moving carriage, disadvantageously causing a nonuniform rotation. To eliminate these drawbacks of the Staar type arrangement, there is proposed a tape cassette loading device which may be referred to as a fixed drive mechanism type in that the reel shafts, capstan and their drive mechanisms are mounted on a fixed substrate. In this device, when a tape cassette is inserted into a cassette receiving opening and receiving in a cassette holder, the latter moves further inward and then moves down to engage the capstan receiving aperture and tape hubs formed in the cassette with the reel shafts and the capstan mounted on the fixed substrate. This conventional arrangement requires a specific starting means associated with an electric motor which is utilized to move the cassette holder, and disadvantageously results in a complex construction and a reduced operating ease.